PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S. -- Jeff Stoughton won the National Grand Slam of Curling final on Sunday with a 8-2 victory in six ends over fellow Winnipeg skip Mike McEwen.

Stoughton broke a 2-2 deadlock with four points in the fifth end to pull ahead for good. He completed the rout in the sixth when he stole two after McEwen missed on a clearout shot.

Stoughton's first National title completed a career Grand Slam. He won the Players' Championship in 2003, the Masters in 2004 and the Canadian Open in 2006.

He started the National 0-2 but won five games in a row, including a 5-3 win over Edmonton's Kevin Koe in the semifinals.

It wasn't the first meeting between the two Winnipeg rinks with a championship on the line. Stoughton defeated McEwen in the 2010 and the 2011 Manitoba provincial finals and McEwen was victorious in the Rogers Masters final in November 2010 to earn his first career Grand Slam title.

The final stop on the 2012-13 Grand Slam of Curling is the Players' Championship, starting April 16 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 28, 2013 C10